


The Concert Leadup

by yulia914



Series: Inkopolis Rhapsody [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28398567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yulia914/pseuds/yulia914
Summary: Pearl is in charge of Marina's recovery when she's called in for work. Both work through various blocks to get the concert running again.
Relationships: Marina/Pearl (Splatoon)
Series: Inkopolis Rhapsody [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110266
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick little story that takes place after the last one! I tried to make it as stand-alone as I could.
> 
> Enjoy!

In a spare bedroom during the dead of night, an octoling tosses and turns in the bed. There’s a clear, quiet night outside that mocks the stormy atmosphere of the bedroom. Her tentacles are pushing up against the wall attempting to find some relief. The tall, dark-skinned octoling tosses aside the blanket in her sleep and starts curling into herself as if to fight back what is causing her distress.

It wins.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The octoling sits up quickly and starts panting loudly. She is completely drenched in sweat and her tentacles are wriggling without pause. Her pajamas are uncomfortably bunched together. She stares wide eyed into the empty room in front of her and doesn’t react when her door gets kicked in.

“REENA! Ya good?” A short inkling runs into the room, wearing shorts and a tanktop with a creamy-white sleeping cap that seems to blend into her face. The octoling doesn’t seem to acknowledge the inkling as she continues to heavily pant. Sweat continues to drip off of her face and tentacles. She doesn’t notice that the inking is now standing next to the bed.

“Marina, babe. Ya hear me?” Takes a few more seconds for the octoling to turn her head and just stare through the inkling.

“Hey, I heard you scream and I was worried.” Still no response.

“...Do you want me to hold ya a bit?”

The octoling, still panting with a very wide eyed stare, quickly nods yes. The inkling gets on the bed to embrace the octoling and tries to reassure her. She slowly carresses the octoling’s head and tentacles with one hand, while holding her with the other.

“Reena, I’m here. Everything’s fine, baby. Everything’s fine.”

*****

Taking care of Marina while she recovered from her accident at the concert rehearsal proved to be a bit of a challenge for someone who grew up with servants and, even now in adulthood and several years removed from that previous life, would sometimes find herself at a loss as to what to do. Pearl now had to quickly figure out these remaining life lessons while taking care of a woman that she had confessed to and committed to be her everything. And part of this commitment was to nurse her girlfriend back to good health. While at first it seemed like Marina was making good progress in her recovery, she had not gotten better in a couple of days and it had them both worried.

And now Marina was having night terrors of the accident.

“Good morning, babe. Were you able to sleep better?” Pearl asked while stretching her arms out in a chair to wake herself up. They had promised each other to take things slow and didn’t want to sleep in the same bed for now. Marina had been up for about 15 minutes as the sunlight was filling out the room.

“Pearlie, can you get some curtains for the window? I finally fell back asleep and the sunlight woke me up.”

“Sure, I gotta go get it. Sorry I didn’t have one set up, I only used this room when family was stopping by and they needed a quick place to crash. Never thought I’d have someone regularly using it. Especially since you always wanted to sleep on the couch the few times you’d stay over here.”

It was usually Pearl who stayed over at Marina’s place when they pulled in-person all-nighters, whether for work, movie marathons, or other silly things. Marina always felt uncomfortable coming to this luxurious apartment. She missed the place that her and Pearl used to live in when she first convinced Pearl to form a band. Seems like so long ago now.

“Hey, was last night because of--?

“Yes. I see the explosion, was back in that void, and I’m kicking and screaming while seeing you leave.”

Pearl just looks down. Marina had told her to not feel like the accident was her fault, that she wasn’t mad and was just happy to be back with her again but Pearl was never going to feel otherwise, in spite of it truly being an accident. Her decisions was the direct cause of all those fireworks being there in the first place, after all. Of course she was going to feel guilty.

“Honey, can you come over and help me up? I don’t know if it’s the slow recovery or the lack of sleep but my legs and back feel like concrete. I want to brush my teeth.”

The inkling helps her girlfriend up and walks her to the bathroom. “Yell my name if you need me.” Marina nods and closes the door.

*****

Marina’s slow recovery was worrying them and they went back to the hospital to see if there was something more serious to be concerned with. Dressing as casually as possible, they were pretty much able to avoid any attention. Turns out that people at a hospital have bigger concerns and are not really there for celebrity autographs.

“Ms. Iida, please come with me.” The cutlassfish nurse walked Marina to the patient room where they took her vital signs and drew some blood. The doctor walks in and, after a few routine questions and reviewing the test results, reassures her that the slow recovery was not uncommon. “We’ve had cases of some octolings simply taking longer to heal than others. The healing for those patients tends to be very stop-and-go. Randomly one day they’ll be fixed and feel fine or at least close to it.”

Marina nodded as she remembered hearing about this back in her days in the Octarian military. Since she was a weapons engineer and not a foot soldier, she had managed to avoid a lot of the injuries that might have plagued a common soldier. Not to say that she wasn’t trained in combat, but her talents were more focused on weapon design than hand-to-hand fighting.

“I noticed that Pearl didn’t walk in with you”, the doctor asked as she continued to review some of the medical paperwork. Marina replies, “It’s fine, she’s usually squeamish when it comes to drawing blood.” _I don’t know how to say that watch_ _ing_ _Pearl’s gloomy face every time any of my injuries_ _are_ _mentioned_ _makes me feel awful._

“That’s fine. Well, like I said, it’s just a matter of waiting it out. Continue not exerting yourself too much physically, and stay nourished.”

*****

Oh their drive back home, Pearl was laughing at her own story while weaving through traffic. “And then the blowfish started arguing with his wife that he fell from a ladder and landed on it! It was so wild, you shoulda been there Reena.”

“Pearlie, please focus on the road. I think that last person dived away from us.”

“Who told her to walk when the light was red?”

“OUR light was red!”

“Semantics.”

It was a gorgeous day outside. The rain of the last couple of days were all gone now, and in it’s place a partly cloudy sky that is perfect for walking through a park. Many people thought the same thing, as the sidewalks were busier than normal, with people heading toward The Reef and nearby parks.

As they were nearing Pearl’s apartment, Marina got a call from their manager. “You willingly want to talk to her? _(Giggles)_ Something must be up. Anyway, she’s driving right now and I’ll tell her to call you back later.”

“What did he want?”

“No clue. Just call him back after we survive this ride.”

“Hey I slowed down, happy?”

“You’re supposed to stop at stop signs, Pearl.”

Having made it, Pearl helps Marina out of the car and into the apartment. As Marina got herself comfortable on the couch, Pearl called back the Off the Hook manager.

“Raymond! I heard you wanted to talk. What can I help you with.”

“You don’t help for shit. Anyway I got a call from Starfish Mainstage. You need to get yo’ ass there and start working through the concert changes with them. We’re a week out and they can’t wait anymore for Marina to recover.”

“I can’t, I need to look after her. She needs help walking at times.”

“I get it, but you need to figure that shit out. Starfish Mainstage isn’t a venue you want to fuck with, especially since we’re already on thin ice after your fuckery.”

Pearl keeps being reminded of her role and each time, it eats at her a bit.

“Pearl, you can’t find someone to look after Marina? If you actually work for once, you can bang this out in a day. At least the stuff you need to be there physically for.”

“I… don’t know. My brothers are overseas, and my parents live too far away to get here on short notice. And I don’t really trust anyone else. Wait…”

“OH NO NO NO”

“You’re available, right? Surely you can make some time for your biggest clients.”

“You piece of shit.”

“Hahaha c’mon Raymond, don’t be such an ass. I promise you she won’t bite.”

“...Fine. Only because we really have no leeway with this. But you better get back as soon as you can. If I hear you decided to attend a puffer party later I will give you new holes to breathe through.”

Pearl hangs up, chuckling at how easy it was. _Old man thinks I still do puffer._ _Dude’_ _s gotta catch up with_ _the times haha_

She walks over and discusses the situation with the sick octoling, who isn’t thrilled. But they agree that this needed to be done. Pearl would go out and rework the choreography, have the structural engineer review Marina’s notes regarding the machine reworkings, and then do a quick trial run. Hopefully, this wouldn’t take too long. It’s only 10am, and Marina’s hope was that Pearl won’t be out too long. The morning was hectic enough and she was craving affection. It would have to wait.

♪~ _anchored through the tidal wave~♫_

Marina answers her cell. “Sweetie, he’s downstairs. Please come back quickly.”

“Sure, will do.” Pearl give her a quick kiss and heads downstairs with her equipment bag. Marina slumps. _It’s not enough…_

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Pearl meets up with Raymond.

“Here’s the key. Like I said, she’s mostly fine but she just needs help walking at times. Don’t be… you around her.”

“Whatchu mean, I’m a delight.”

“Yeah asshole I mean don’t be too much of a delight, it might scare her.”

“You funny bitch. Anyway don’t take too long, I got shit to do later.”

“You know how to use an elevator right.”

“I better not see you when I turn around, rapper!”

Pearl laughs as she runs off to the car she ordered.


	2. Chapter 2

“DJ, you awake?” Raymond walks in. Marina turns and looks at him.

Raymond was a heavy-set manta ray who had been in the industry for many, many years. Regarded as a bit of an icon (or so he says) but the list of people he’s managed and worked with cannot be disputed. One of Pearl’s biggest accomplishments early on when Off the Hook was formed was to convince Raymond to take them as clients. A decision that he has regretted a few times due to Pearl’s antics. But money talks, and Off the Hook’s success has kept him floating.

“Yes, I’m in the living room watching TV. How have you been?”

They have some small chat, where Raymond asks about her health. As antagonistic as he and Pearl were to each other, he was much kinder to Marina since he saw her as the person keeping Pearl from squandering her talent.

“I’m sorry to hear that. The whole incident sounded awful. I had to explain to a few people what happened and everyone naturally sent their best wishes. I’m sure lots have already messaged you or something.” Raymond pulls out a bag of fish nuggets from the fridge and heats them all.

“Those are mine, Raymond.”

“I’ll order more. I gotta eat something.”

“You can make a better decision than fish nuggets at 10:30am.”

“My mom died a long time ago and I ain’t looking for applicants. Go back to your show, there ain’t nothing to see here.”

Marina huffs as she turns and watches her show.

*****

When she’s out with Marina, Pearl drives as she enjoys the feeling of driving Marina around and showing her sights. In the beginning, it was genuinely to show a friend a good time but as time went on and Pearl’s feeling developed, she started pining over those moments she could impress and entertain her crush. But, without her around, she decides to have a car service take her to Starfish Mainstage.

As she reviews notes, the car stops at a red light behind some other cars. As the light turns green, she happens to look to the right and, out in the distance, she sees a sea anemome with pink and green hair, seemingly arguing in an alley with an isopod. The car drives away and Pearl can no longer see them. _Was that…? No, couldn’t be._ Pearl then goes back to her notes as they approach Starfish Mainstage.

“We’re here, Ms. Houzuki!” Pearl thanks the driver and heads off to the concert hall where the Starfish Mainstage manager is there waiting.

“Houzuki, thank you for joining us. Before we start, tell me how Iida is doing.” Zulet, a large shrimp with emerald-studded earrings, was there for the whole incident and had shown concern for the octoling’s health. They discuss Marina’s health as they walk to the front of the stage. It wasn’t that long ago that there was a crowd of people and paramedics here trying to resuscitate two people.

Everything’s been cleaned and moved, as if nothing happened. Pearl felt a small bit of relief at this.

*****

“Aquarianne was such an amazing DJ. She was like you a bit, loved to tinker with the recording systems to get such strange sounds.”

Raymond was regaling Marina with stories of some people he had managed over the years. All while eating the fish nuggets, which Marina was certainly noticing.

“I remember the day she retired. She had fallen in love with the accordion player of one of the group’s biggest rivals. He hosted Inkopolis News back then and suddenly stopped the broadcast to declare how much he loved her. Then he just ran off leaving his co-host just standing there! It was some wild shit, I tell ya. She pretty much yelled ‘I quit, good luck!’ as she ran out of the recording studio to meet him. Last I heard, they moved to one of those nation-states on the other end of the ocean and had a family. Good for her. Damn I’m outta nuggets, lemme order more.”

“Can you at least replace MY bag you ate?”

“Yeah sure.”

Marina, known by everyone as a sweet, caring, and polite darling, enjoyed her occasional banter with Pearl and Raymond, both of whom she’s known for many years. With them, more than anyone, she felt _just_ comfortable enough to rib a bit. It made her smile to see them talk to her without any guarded responses.

Raymond starts messing with his phone while Marina wonders what her crush is doing. _I hope she’s fine. Girl can get a little loopy without me there sometimes._

“DJ, I gotta question. Why exactly do you put up with Pearl? I know you two are together almost all the time. Surely she must be as shitty at times to you as she is to me. At least I only deal with her a few hours at a time.”

Marina wanted to tell him how wrong he was, how she can be very sweet and thoughtful most of the time, and yes, she can be a bit rowdy and terrible as well. How she saw it all as Pearl’s charm and how she had no defense to it. And how she found her so attractive and irresistible. But if she started defending Pearl too much, she might let slip their newly acquired relationship and Marina did not want people peering into their personal business. Not even their trusted band manager.

“She isn’t as bad as you say. Maybe it’s just you who likes to fight! Might explain your lonely days.” She grinned as she knew what he was going to reply with.

“HAHA! Maybe my days are lonely but my nights certainly aren’t!” OK that wasn’t it.

“Eww, why are you telling me this?”

“Oh NOW you’re squeamish Ms. ‘watch people ink their splatzone’?”

Marina starts laughing loudly. “I honestly did not think that would cause such a commotion. Ugh, I thought it was just a silly joke that the parents watching would chuckle at.” Her laughing made her sore really quickly.

“We all make those mistakes when doing live unscripted shows. Don’t sweat it. I was just impressed that it was Marina Iida who would get me in trouble for adult language. Not the Off the Hook member I woulda bet on.”

Raymond gets a notification that the groceries were downstairs. “You think I can take five and pick this up?”

“Sure, I should be fine for now. Don’t take too long.”

He heads out and Marina’s left alone for a bit. She starts rubbing her abdomen to relax her soreness from laughing. Her slow recovery has her nervous. But most of all, she was just missing Pearl.


	3. Chapter 3

After 2 hours of discussion, arguing, and compromises, the concert hall changes are approved and the Starfish Mainstage staff starts the process of moving everything to match. Pearl helps out where she can, and pretty soon they are ready for a trial run.

“Zulet, we start in five.”

“Understood, I’ll be in the office seats to see if anything seems off. Be on your best behavior, Houzuki.”

“Pffft who ya think ya talking to? It ain’t my show if people ain’t on their toes. Let’s light this candle.”

Pearl walks on the stage and addresses the staff. “I know we had bad shit happen last time. THIS time we are gonna be flawless! It’ll be mostly the same show as last week’s just without the fireworks and less floodlights. GIMME A THUMBS UP IF YOU READY!”

The staff approves. And the rehearsal starts.

*****

“So I ordered 2 bags of nuggets and some mangos and guava. Do you know you’re supposed to eat things with vitamins when you recovering and shit? Why is that asshole just feeding you garbage.”

“I was just craving nuggets and I felt like I deserved it.”

“You used Pearl because she was incredibly guilty.”

“Don’t say that, Raymond.”

He dropped the topic as he sliced up a guava and put it in a bowl. “Here, I promise it will help you. Guava ain’t let me down ever.”

Marina started munching as she looked at the clock. _12:48pm. I would have been at the rehearsal right now. I wonder if she’s fine._

“Hey Raymond. Can you help me to the restroom?”

“Wow you really got a while to go before you good again.”

“You’re making me feel self conscious.”

“Sorry, not my intention.”

After Marina was done, she slowly trudges her way back to the couch where she suddenly felt very tired. She closed her eyes and was knocked out fast.

“Wonder why she didn’t call for me. Poor girl, I’ve been shot before and it fuckin’ wrecks you when the adrenaline is gone.”

Raymond pulled up a seat and started watching videos on his phone.

*****

“THAT’S A WRAP!”

Rehearsal was a success. Pearl is sweating up a storm, but her and the concert hall staff were able to pull off a successful run. And no one got blown up, so that’s something.

“YEAH BITCHES WE GOT THIS! Can’t mess with MC PRINCESS!” Pearl finally feels like her old self again and, for a second, is able to just revel in her own little world. She slams her hands on a table in utter excitement.

“Hey Reena! How amazing was… Oh. Right.” She crashes back to her new reality. She picks up a water bottle from the station. Catches her breath. Blowfishes open the latches to the floodlights while octolings move them towards the back. Inklings and jellies box the smoke machines. The whirl of the concert hall staff running around to rearrange everything for the next performer who’s concert is the following week.

The betta fishes dancers for the next performer start walking in and stretching. One of them winks at Pearl and walks over.

“Hey, you’re the rapper for Off the Hook, right? You looked so good up there.”

“Thanks. Y’all are the backup dancers for the Bottom Feeders concert, right?”

“Yeah, this is our big break. Fin reached out to us and we couldn’t say no, she’s one of the best betta fish successes the music industry’s had in some time. I don’t know if we can keep up with her. Her dancing is wild when she’s playing her violin. We’re going to need the practice.”

“I’m sure y’all will kill it.”

“Thanks for the confidence, sweetheart.”

The dancer, who’s been giggling the whole time and hasn’t broken eye contact, gets closer and lightly touches Pearl’s hand that’s still on the table.

“There’s still some time before they clear your stuff out and arrange our stage. How about you show me your office?”

Perhaps it should have been mentioned earlier, but the betta fish dancer was quite beautiful. Tall with very long hair and an athletic build. The kind of girl that Pearl used to chase after so much and the kind of girl who would break Pearl’s heart on more than one occasion. And it wasn’t too long ago that she would have absolutely jumped at the chance and showed no hesitation.

But this is the present, not the past.

“Look, nothin’ against ya, but I shouldn’t. Wouldn’t want to disrupt your pre-rehearsal routine haha.” Pearl appears a bit uncomfortable which was the betta fish’s signal to drop it.

“Suit yourself, gorgeous. You know where to find me.” And she walked back over to the group. Pearl notices another betta fish frowning and mentioning something to the flirty dancer. _I think I can guess what she’s being told_ _._ Pearl looks back at the dancer and checks her out.

Because, well, she’s only committed to her best friend. Not dead.

*****

Marina wakes up and checks the clock. _4:23pm._

“Good afternoon DJ. You was out for hours.” She felt a bit refreshed but still so tired. She didn’t understand why this was still happening.

“Ugh… Please, can you get me some water?” Raymond walks over and hands her a cup. She felt like such a burden. She hated that feeling more than anything.

As she sat up and started drinking, Raymond sits back in his chair.

“Marina, what do you do? Outside of Pearl?”

She chokes a bit on the water. “Can you phrase that better?” _That’ll throw him off the trail._

“Y’ know what I meant. Like, besides work and the friendship stuff y’all do like watching TV or whatever. Don’tcha have other friends? Or at least hobbies that don’t involve her?”

Marina thought about the first part. “I do have some friends, although I don’t hang out with them as much as I do with Pearl. They’re great, although they all work so any time together is limited. I guess it would be the same with Pearl if we weren’t coworkers.”

“That narwhal landlord doesn’t count.”

“No, I do have friends. Remember a few months back when you had to repair the studio speakers in Room B due to Pearl yelling too loud? The sea sponge I was with is a long time friend of mine. We still text a lot, but she lives out in the Sealion Desert now. I keep forgetting which city-state she’s in.”

“How about the other thing? Do you have hobbies that’s just… you?”

“Why are you insistent on this?”

“I just don’t want you burning out. It’s good for people that are so involved with each other’s lives to have some separate time. Or else one day y’all will start beefing over some stupid shit and then be pissed for months.”

Marina stopped to think about that a bit. It was true that she didn’t really do much that didn’t involve Pearl. Presumably this will get worse now that they’re a romantic couple rather than “just” best friends. But she never wanted to do things without Pearl. Even before she started developing feelings.

“I… never really thought about it.”

“You should, DJ. Trust me, y’all will need some apart time.”

“Well… sometimes I like to tinker with computer software. Maybe I can learn some inkling programming for funzies.”

“...Yeah we got different definitions of hobbies. Or fun.”

While Raymond puts the cup away. Marina takes the chance, gets up, and starts trudging to the bedroom. Raymond quickly moved in to help her.

“Thanks, but I think I can make the walk.”

“Last time you tried you fell asleep for 4 hours. You never struck me as prideful like that.”

“It’s not pride. I just… I want to get better. I don’t like having to rely on people for basic things like this.”

“Look, if you hurt yourself I ain’t wanna be held responsible. Pearl’s already an asshole and that’s without me giving her a reason to be.”

“You never did? You say that like I wasn’t there for all the times you changed times, locales, performing songlists on us--”

“I will drop you here on the floor and leave.”

Marina giggles as she’s helped to the bedroom. She changes her clothes to shorts with one of Pearl’s shirts since all her clothes in Pearl’s apartment were baggy and was making her feel hot on the couch. Back on the couch, Raymond hands her a bowl of rice and beans that he had ordered for her dinner.

“Aw, you’re not such a bad babysitter after all!”

“ _(_ _Rolls eyes_ _)_ Anyway, have you heard from Pearl? I’m not sure how much longer I can stay, I do have an appointment with a friend for some recruitment work. Dumbass is lost without me.”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I think I can handle myself, if you need to leave then you should go.”

“Do I need to reference Pearl being an asshole again?”

Marina grumbled as she ate her food. Her upbringing in the Octarian military fostered in her a desire of self-sufficiency, to put on a brave face and suppress any weakness. It has been a lot of work to get used to a world where she had friends that would help her in times like this, but she would always hate being a burden to those she cared about.

She wishes she could just go out and enjoy the day instead of being a couch-ridden mess.


	4. Chapter 4

At a table in the GM’s office, Pearl sits and is signing some closing documents. “You did good, Houzuki. I was worried you might be a bit gun-shy after the accident, but you performed above what anyone could have hoped!” Pearl isn’t sure if Zulet was buttering her up for something or genuine. But being a bit self-absorbed meant that it didn’t matter too much.

“Pffft you should see me when I’m tryin’. Imma let you imagine it.”

Zulet scoffs and hands her some more paperwork. “Turn imagination to reality and hurry up with this. The staff’s almost done with the Bottom Feeders prep and I need to start their monitoring soon.”

“Yeah yeah I’m on it.”

“I noticed the routine has you doing a lot more than before. Do you think Iida’s going to sit out the concert?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Her slow recovery has us worried. I’m hoping she can pull through and at least be able to do the night-before rehearsal in a few days.”

“Will it affect what the staff has to put together?”

“It shouldn’t. She’ll either takes some of my spotlight time or I’ll have her mostly at the turntables.”

“OK good. Less last-minute changes, the better. These 2 concerts are going to be busy enough as it is.”

Pearl finishes the last of the closing paperwork and hands it to Zulet. They say their farewells and Pearl walks out of the office and through the audience hall to pick up her stuff at her guest office. She looks up at the stage where Fin Bottom and her manager are giving instructions to the dancers. The flirty dancer looks away and sees Pearl looking at them, and gives her a wink and a smile. Pearl blushes and starts walking faster.

Outside, Pearl heads to the car service hyped, tired, and a bit sexually frustrated. Then the inkling suddenly remembers about the bedroom blinds.

“Hey, can you drop me off at HHE near Urchin Underpass? I need to buy something quick.”

She watches the sunset and realizes that there isn’t too much time left for errands. _Fuck, I took longer than I thought with Zulet. She’s_ _too much_ _with her paperwork._ She also notices the sidewalks are a lot less crowded than they were in the morning. _It would have been nice to walk around in the sunset now with_ _Reena_ _. She would have loved this._

“We’re here, madam.”

“Thanks, yo!”

Pearl runs out and quickly enters the store. She’s got jeans and a nondescript hoodie on, which usually works to get no one to notice her. She grabs the first somewhat respectable set of blinds she can find and heads to the cashier. While she’s waiting on the line, she sees an isopod running full speed outside holding one of his arms. _Wonder what that’s about._ The octoling in front of her, who’s been chatting in Octarian with the person next to her about whether eggshell or matte paint would work in her living room, also notices the isopod.

«This neighborhood is getting out of control. I know this hasn’t ever been the safest place in Inkopolis, but you’d think that people would have the courtesy to stab each other away from the Urchin Blvd shops.»

«You think it’s gang related?»

«Nah it’s those bootleggers. They usually do their business towards eastern Inkopolis though. Who are they fighting here? It’s nothing but broke fucks out here.»

Pearl smirks as the line moves up. _Some things don’t change. This shit was going on back when my dad was starting out and working his trade contacts._ She pays for the blinds and quickly orders another car to get her home.

As she gets in the car, a sea anemone with pink and green hair runs out of the nearby alley and runs in the opposite direction of the isopod.

*****

“You’re here? Finally. You fuckin’ took your sweet time. Zulet told me your shift ended like, over an hour ago.”

Raymond quickly packs his stuff up. “DJ, Imma head out now. I’m running late to meet my dumbass friend due to your dumbass friend. I’ll check up on y’all tomorrow.”

Marina thanks him as he leaves and she decides to try to stand up for a bit. She’s feeling a little better, and doesn’t get lightheaded as quickly now. She still feels weak but it’s some progress.

Downstairs, Raymond meets with Pearl and hands her back the apartment key.

“Didja go shopping or something? You coulda saved that for later, I’m late as it is.”

“It’s some blinds that I needed. Go bitch to your associate.”

“Finally some sense outta you. I’ll call tomorrow.”

Pearl smiles and her hearts start fluttering as she knows who’s waiting for her. She had spent so much time physically around her recently, and the day apart really did make her hearts grow fonder. _I hope she likes these blinds. They’re good enough, right?_ Pearl had no clue if the measurements were even right for the window.

*DING!

Arriving at her floor, she unlocks the door and drops her stuff at the entrance.

“I’M BACK AND READY TO ATTACK!”

Pearl walks over to the living room where she sees Marina, standing with a smile, ready to greet her. Pearl immediately notices that Marina is wearing one of her shirts and it looks messy and tight on her. That, the shorts, the yearning, and her previous frustration overloads her senses and she just starts moving quickly.

“Pearlie!~♥ I’m so happy t-MMMF?!”

Pearl pulls her down and immediately kisses her. Marina is taken aback as she was just not expecting this all at once. They fall back on the couch and Pearl straddles her. Marina sees the look in Pearl’s eyes and feels Pearl’s hand quickly moving up her thigh.

“WAIT!” Marina grabs her beloved inkling and shakes her. That seems to snap Pearl out of it.

“Babe, we talked about this, we were going to take it slow. You haven’t even said anything, are you OK?”

Pearl’s in a bit of a daze and comes to. “I... just missed my best girl.”

Pearl sits next to Marina on the couch and slowly breathes out. “How was your day with Raymond?”

Marina can’t help but laugh. “You’re really following THAT up with asking about Raymond?”

“Sorry, I just… you don’t want to hear the details. But I missed you a lot.” Pearl leans over and starts caressing her girlfriend’s tentacles. Marina blushes a bit and feels overjoyed at finally getting her long sought-after affection. She scooches in to cuddle with her inkling.

“Me too. And the day with Raymond was fine. He was making me laugh when I was awake. He also might have eaten a lot of the food in your fridge. And he got me fruit!”

“Oh yeah, I should have gotten some fruit. Fish nuggets probably ain’t helping the recovery. Or maybe it did? You were standing without collapsing there.”

Marina grinned and she saw the look of relief on her friend’s face. “I do feel a little better. The mangos helped.”

The short inkling, realizing she hasn’t eaten in quite some time, walks over to the fridge. “Man, he did sack this. What’s this bag?”

“Oh I didn’t finish the rice and beans. You can have the rest if you want, I feel full.”

Marina hears her phone buzz and checks the message. It’s from Raymond:

“Lmao look what zulet just sent me! Proof that she works!”

Attached is a picture of Pearl in the general manager’s office signing the closing documents. _Awww Pearlie, I used to fill out most of this. This_ _must_ _have been the reason you took so long to get back._ Marina then notices the top-left of the picture. It’s a window that shows part of the stage, where she sees some betta fish dancers stretching.

The goldfish swim in her head for a second, and then she asks, “Pearlie, was there a… particular reason why you just ran in and pinned me down?”

“...N-no, no reason at all.”

Marina rolls her eyes. _She’s going to be such a handful._

*****

“Babe, I got your curtains. Give me a few minutes to put it up. Just need to get the driller to attach the metal clips to the wall.”

“When did you learn home repair?”

“I don’t, but I know how to use a driller. Who ya think used to put the stage props together when we first started band shows?”

“Those little boxes used to fall apart after a couple of hours, sweetie.”

“Yeah but they lasted long enough for the concert! I am just too talented at times.”

Marina rolls her eyes again as she sits in her makeshift room, waiting for Pearl to install her curtain before she can go to sleep. It’s been a long day for both of them, and Marina just wants to wake up the next day in better shape. She remains ever hopeful that she no longer would have to rely so much on everyone else to just move around.

“Found it!” Pearl walks in with the electric driller in one hand and the blinds in the other. The window isn’t particularly large, but its still going to take some time to set up.

“Did you read the instructions at least?”

“Pffft who needs those.”

Pearl climbs a ladder and naturally starts just drilling in random holes and tries to match them with the metal clips. This actually works, to the astonishment of her girlfriend. Pearl unboxes the rest of the blinds and starts attaching them to the metal clips, reaching as far as her short arms allows her to reach.

Meanwhile, an octoling observes her girlfriend in a rare bout of manual labor and notices all the exposed skin from when her girlfriend’s shirt rides up with her arms as she tries to make the blinds slide into the metal clips. Marina bites her lip as her thoughts and hearts start racing. _No, no I just yelled at her for this. I need to relax._ She comes to when she hears a loud click. “Done! Look, it even moves when you pull on this.” And then Pearl starts running back and forth, opening and closing the blinds.

_How does this girl have so much energy, it’s so late._

“Works for you, babe? You should be able to sleep as much as you want tomorrow!”

The inkling starts bringing the box and all the trash out of the room, leaving Marina to finally get to sleep. Pearl said that she would clean up the apartment and then go to sleep, which must have been tiring since she spent the day in rehearsal and then spent the evening tending to her beloved octoling. Marina, again, felt the pang of being a burden, but Pearl reassured her that it was nothing and that she should just go to bed.

As she sits, she’s surprised by her beloved suddenly walking back in. Pearl quickly reaches in and gives her a quick peck. “G’night!” And she leaves.

The octoling, with her hearts all fluttery, lays down and wonders if anything bad would have happened if she had pulled in her inkling for the night.

*****

“OK people, we got a day to go before the concert! Let’s make this rehearsal count!” Zulet addresses the concert hall staff. Pearl stands off to the side, watching her girlfriend review with the structural engineer. After a few minutes, Marina walks back.

“Reena, I’m so happy you chose to go through with this! I was worried you wouldn’t recover in time.”

“I still feel a little tired if I stand too long, but I should be able to handle this.”

“No problem! Leave the flashiness to MC Princess!”

“( _Giggle_ _)_ Something tells me this was your plan all along.”

The rehearsal comes and goes, and it’s as much a success as anyone involved could have hoped. Zulet walks over to them to start discussing the closing paperwork. “Iida, please tell me you’ll sign these this time. Your bandmate is much too slow for this.”

Marina giggles to her girlfriend’s chagrin as they walk over to the general manager’s office. After a few minutes, they get everything filled out and shake hands with Zulet.

“Iida. Houzuki. We’ll meet again tomorrow for the concert itself. Please make sure we start at 8pm. I know you rappers like to show up late for concerts, but please, let’s not make a mess of things.”

“It’s called fashionably late! The coolest MCs have to do it.”

“Leave before I find more paperwork for you to sign.”

Pearl heads out to speak to Raymond.

“Hey, Zulet? Do you know if… any other groups are going to be rehearsing now?”

“Not today. Why do you ask, Iida?”

“...No reason.”

*****

The day of.

Fans are streaming into the stands, and the concert hall is lit up and festive as can be, with the whirl of the staff fixing some last minute bugs.

Off the Hook is in the costume room, getting dressed and prepared by their staff. As their costumes are nearing completion, Pearl chuckles a bit. “Can you believe it’s the day? We went through so much shit cuz of this concert. We gonna kill it out there!”

Marina’s nervous, and doesn’t want to tell Pearl how tired she really feels. But this matters so much to both of them, and she doesn’t want to let Pearl down. Even if she knows that Pearl would have told her to sit this out. _Pearlie can be so thoughtful. But… I need to sneak this past her. Just this once._ She’s had some practice pushing through illness from her training.

“Reena, ya there? You look so serious.”

The makeup artist interrupts. “You two should be set! Go out there and dazzle!”

“Fuck yeah, let’s light this candle!”

 _8:10pm_. They walk out to a small, isolated room to the side of the stage curtain, where they will then run out and stand on the spotlight, in front of a massive audience. Pre-show jitters are to be expected, and this is no exception. But they have been through this several times, and are able to settle their nerves.

A green light next to the opening turns on.

“It’s time to go. We’re going to ( _sigh_ _)_ nail this.”

“Reena, you sure you fine?”

Marina just wants to start already, so she pulls Pearl’s arm to draw her in. She give her a simple kiss to reassure Pearl. “I’m fine, love. Let’s do this.”

They give each other a warm smile as they hold hands for a second. Then they run out through the opening. The spotlight, the cheering fans, the grumble of machine parts, the staff moving to their assigned spots.

And Off the Hook is in the middle of it all.

“YO, INKOPOLIS!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy! Have a few ideas rolling around on how to tell this story.


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